Meet dancer and honors student Lian Stemler

Dancing her way through high school, Lian Stemler has managed to find a way to be an extraordinary student and ballerina. She is a senior at Corona del Mar High School and will graduate with the class of 2018. Stemler is going to Stanford and is looking to major in human biology and minor in dance.

Stemler has danced ever since she was 2. She dances at Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy and has done so for the past eight years.

“I train six days a week for about 20 hours,” she said.

Dance has made an enormous impact on her life and she is looking forward to dancing in college. Dance is her minor, so she will be able to continue the hard work of a ballerina at one of the best dance schools. Dance is technically not considered a sport at CdM or at Stanford, it is an extracurricular, but she made many friends through it and enjoys it.

Stemler moved to CdM after eighth grade. She originally was at a private school that went from kindergarten to grade eight, and her class only had 45 people in it. She decided to move to CdM when she determined she was ready for an adjustment. Stemler says, “after nine years of the same 45 people, going to CdM was a tremendous change.”

After a long discussion with her parents about what high school she should go to, she decided to go to CdM.

“My parents originally wanted me to go to Mater Dei, but I was adamant that CdM was the better choice. Now I know I made the right choice,” she said.

Stemler has loved CdM over the past four years because she has made plenty of friends that she could not imagine living without. She also enjoys CdM because of the infrastructure her teachers have given her on which she can build off of in college.

“I do not really stand out academically because so many kids at CdM are really smart and get good grades,” Stemler said.

Despite the academic rigor of CdM, Stemler got a 36 on her ACT and was accepted to Stanford. She also works 10 hours per week at Balboa Candy and she tutors children that need academic help. She is also in At Your Service (AYS), and also attends the weekly meetings. On top of that, she takes four AP classes. Stemler never fails to to push herself.

California Scholarship Federation (CSF) became a club on campus this year, and Stemler is the president. So far, the club is a hit as it has 73 members. The goal of the club is to raise money for seniors so then they will have to pay less for their college tuition. There have been many fundraisers so far this year, and CSF may have a couple more.

Throughout Stemler’s four years at CdM, she has proved to be an overachieving pupil. Stemler is a perfect example of how hard work pays off in the end.

Join the HS Insider Newsletter!

Sections

About HS Insider

High School Insider enables students to post their stories on LATimes.com and report on issues that matter to them and their communities. Through HS Insider, students are provided the opportunity to join a network of more than 300 schools, attend conferences, apply for internships and reach thousands with their reporting. Interested in getting involved? Send an email to Molly.Heber@latimes.com.